I just recently realized that no matter how much pain high-heels cause me I am totally in love with them.

I put on a pair of jazz slippers last week and tried to pull a few moves...My feet loved them. They were light, and comfortable, BUT to my utter disappointment I did not like how I looked in them. I felt out of balance, a little clumsy, and not "salsalike". I am not sure if this is just in my head, however, I am convinced that my high-heel torture machines make me (think that I am) a better dancer

Keep those sexy heels on! I feel the same way. I still prefer the look of my strappy open-toed heels at the salsa clubs. But I find salsa heels quite comfy. The soft suede bottoms help with the comfort...and if you stick to buying heels that are no higher than 2.5", you should be fine. Heels higher than that definitely make my feet ache after a couple hours of dancing.

I used to wear sneakers and flats all the time. And I have to admit that once I put on a pair of high heel salsa shoes, there was no turning back. As much as they hurt and i get stepped on, I like the way they look and the way my body is grounded when I dance in them!

Velina I think there are drawbacks to jazz/ballet shoes as well. Even for a guy, although jazz ballet shoes are wonderfully light and offer complete flexibility for your foot, it isn't really the best for dancing all night. The lack of arch support leads to feet that are lot more sore for a guy when compared with a normal shoe or dance sneaker.

I think for ladies, dancing in heels forces you to be on the balls of your feet, helping with being more grounded in your turns and your general basic steps.

Especially when at a party, there is also the "sexiness" factor of heels that us men do appreciate greatly. So please...keep the heels on._________________Alfred

Well said!!! I still dance in my dance sneaker if I knew I would be dancing for a long period of time. However, as Alfred said, dancing in heels does forces us to be dancing on the ball of our feet. When I made my first switch to heels from my dance sneaker, all my salsa friends notice the difference in my posture ... all the sudden, I stand up taller (not b/c of the extra inches ) with my shoulder back and head high with a bit of an arch back. Now, I dance on heels till my feet aches then I will switch back to my sneaker.

I remember when I first started doing salsa I used to dance in my socks. Haha...oddly, some guys were not crazy about being partnered with me! I still can't figure out why. Anyways, I feel the same way Velina! who cares how busted our feet look, heels feel awesome and are way sexy _________________SK